5/10/22 Belly of the Beast: Anti-fatness as Anti-Blackness with Da'Shaun L. Harrison

In this edition of the NAAFA Webinar Series, author and community organizer Da’Shaun L. Harrison (they/them) joined host Tigress Osborn (she/her) to talk about their acclaimed book Belly of the Beast: the Politics of AntiFatness as AntiBlackness. The book has been called a “modern classic” (Kiese Laymon) that is “gift and a groundbreaker” (Sharonda J. Brown). The NAAFA Webinar Series is for fat people and fat-positive folx of all sizes. This webinar is presented in English, and ASL Interpreting by Pro Bono ASL. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance in a 501c3 charitable organization with a mission to change perceptions of fat and to end size discrimination through advocacy, education, and support. Our webinars are offered to the community free of charge thanks to the generosity of those who give to NAAFA. To support this and other NAAFA programming, visit naafa.org/give. Speaker Bio: Da’Shaun Harrison is a Black, fat, queer and trans theorist and abolitionist in Atlanta, GA. Harrison is the author of Belly of the Beast: The Politics of AntiFatness as Anti-Blackness, and is a public speaker who often gives talks and leads workshops on Blackness, queerness, gender, fatness, disabilities, and their intersections. Harrison currently serves as the Editor-at-Large for Scalawag Magazine and is the co-host of the podcast “Unsolicited: Fatties Talk Back”. Harrison’s tenure as a community organizer in Atlanta began in 2014 during their first year at Morehouse College. Along with several other student organizers, Harrison helped build a student-led organizing body named “AUCShutItDown.” The group’s work was centered around police violence in Metro Atlanta, gentrification, campus-based sexual violence, and queer/trans-antagonistic school policies. In 2015, that work expanded to the creation of Atlanta Black Students United—a collective of Black student organizers from colleges and universities across Metro Atlanta dedicated to restructuring the policies and cultures of their respective campuses. In 2016, following the uprisings birthed by the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, Harrison and four other Black queer and trans organizers created #ATLisReady. AiR, as it was called, sought to consolidate already-existing work moving across the city, and to make it easier for community organizers to network with one another. Between the years 2019 and 2021, Harrison served as Associate Editor — and later as Managing Editor — of Wear Your Voice Magazine. Harrison penned their first published piece in the summer of 2017 while navigating heightened poverty and homelessness. This would become the genesis of their writing career. Harrison writes not only as a means of survival, but with the belief that if the marginalized wish for a future where their history is depicted accurately and their stories are told correctly then they must document them. Writing, for Da’Shaun, is not solely a passion or talent, but it is the foundation on which their home—their love, their survival, their creativity—is built. It is their expression of self; their contribution to the documentation of the histories of oppressed/colonized peoples. Harrison’s writing has appeared in PhiladelphiaPrint, Medium, THEM, Black Youth Project, BET, and other online publications. They have also been featured in/interviewed by The Fader, Everyday Feminism, Buzzfeed, Teen Vogue, the New York Times, and other local and national publications. You can follow Da’Shaun at: Website: https://dashaunharrison.com/ IG:   / dashaunlh   Facebook:   / dagodlyshaun   Twitter:   / dashaunlh   OPINION DISCLAIMER: Any views or opinions stated in the NAAFA webinar series are personal and belong solely to the speaker. They do not represent the views or opinions of NAAFA or the people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated. Any views or opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual.